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Friday, June 20, 2014

Negative Thoughts, Positive Actions

On days when I wake up and feel the
urge to start the day with lifted spirits, I select a Joel Osteen sermon on the
DVR. I have several to choose from and last week I watched one about negative thoughts.

Joel said that negative thoughts
take up more space in our brains than positive ones. We find ourselves dwelling
on the things that hurt us.

Did you realize that every second
you are alive, your brain is actively thinking? We have between 50,000 - 70,000
thoughts each day. With 35 to 48 thoughts bouncing around in your brain each
minute, it seems that some of them would have to be negative. Life deems that
bad things are going to happen to good people. You are going to be put down,
criticized, humiliated, make stupid mistakes, have terrible thoughts, lie,
cheat, hurt other people, go a little haywire from time to time…the list goes
on and on.

Well, guess what? We have this
massive filing system in our brains where all those ugly moments are stored. Entire
events are stored in our brains, complete with the emotions associated with
them—good or bad. When something makes us retrieve a negative file, we open the
Pandora’s box inside it. Rushing out of that file are all the emotions
associated with the memory, taking us back to a place we don’t want to be.

When you have a loved one with
Alzheimer’s you can build up a huge emotional file cabinet. I gave a
presentation on caregiver emotions last week at the Senior Center in Warsaw,
Missouri. We talked about guilt, resentment, worry, anger, loneliness, defensiveness,
and grief. These are common emotions stored in caregivers’ memories. We also
talked about strategies to take control over these emotions.

Now that I’m getting older and more
philosophical, I find myself wondering just exactly how those pesky negative
thoughts pop into my head and how to lessen their impact on my daily life. Joel Osteen said that when negative
emotions dominate our thoughts, we need to switch the channel instead of
replaying those hurts.

A similar idea surfaced in an
article written by Joseph M. Carver, Ph.D, psychologist. He points out that the
brain operates automatically, pulling files randomly throughout each day depending
on memory triggers. “When the brain operates on automatic, the files it pulls
are greatly influenced by our mood. For example, if you are severely depressed,
if your brain is on ‘automatic,’ it will pull nothing but bad, trash, and
garbage files.” A powerful tool at our disposal, according to Dr. Carver, is
the ability to change a depressed mood by “simply switching the brain to
manual, taking more control over our thoughts.” Or, as Joel Osteen put it,
switch the channel.

Although I don’t think I have as
much negative energy bouncing around in my brain as I once had, the occasional pessimistic thought
can dominate my thinking. Fortunately, I’ve learned how to “switch the channel.”

The goal is not to bury emotions. In
fact, the opposite is often more beneficial. If we can deal with our emotions
immediately, the solutions are stored along with the traumatic experiences and
help us cope with that emotion. Yes, most of us can direct our thoughts into a
positive direction. At first, I couldn’t even tell people that Jim was
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s without choking up and bursting out in tears. I took
control of my thoughts by turning a negative into a positive. I started to
speak about Alzheimer’s, began the Early Onset Blog, and became an Alzheimer’s advocate.

Chemicals in our brains determine
our moods and feelings. Sometimes traumatic events or long-term negative
thoughts can throw our brain’s chemical balance out of whack. When that
happens, it may be necessary to take medication to bring the chemicals back in
balance. Through positive thinking, physical activity, and mental stimulation, we
can handle temporary or fleeting negative emotions.

Earlier, I compared the brain’s
negative emotions to opening Pandora’s box, but the most important part of the
legend is what she found in the bottom of what she believed to be an empty box. When
she opened it again to show it was empty, Hope was released. We, too, can replace
negative emotions with hope by taking control and switching the channel.

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Early Onset Alzheimer’s

This award-winning blog is a must-read for individuals experiencing early-onset Alzheimer’s. Less common than standard age-related dementias, early onset Alzheimer’s is virtually always a surprise to diagnosed individuals. Linda Fisher, blogger and author, knows the difficulty of this condition firsthand.

In her Early Onset Alzheimer’s blog, she teaches readers not just how to manage such a frightening condition, but also how to live life to the fullest. Her passion for helping others – showing everyone that life with Alzheimer’s is worth living – is a tremendous gift. Thank you, Linda!

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Early Onset Blog has received several blog awards. Due to new Google regulations, the links had to be removed. Past awards have included the #1 Health Blog , Top 10 blog in 2010, Top 25 Blog award in 2010, and a Top 50 award in 2012. We appreciate the recognition, but also understand the need to remove the links.

When Jim returned from Vietnam, he was stationed at Fort Riley, and we spent about a year and a half living in Manhattan, Kansas. With ba...

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I have participated in a link exchange with the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation. They have this blog http://earlyonset.blogspot.com/ listed in their Alzheimer's blogs.

Lindsay Nason wrote about my Early Onset Blog: "I want to thank you for sharing your powerful experience and your creative suggestions with others. . . . Your blog offers a unique and personal insight into this disease, which can be such a comfort to other members of the Alzheimer's community."

Thank you, Lindsay, for your kind words and for including the Early Onset Blog on your website.